Gallivanting Grandma

Monday – July 20, 2015

Since today was our last day in San Francisco, we wanted to finish our “to do” list of activities. We had a relatively quick breakfast at the hotel and walked to Ghirardelli Square to catch the tour bus.

What a difference a day makes!  Yesterday’s heavy traffic was gone and very few vehicles were on Route 101 northbound. We held our breath through the tunnel after yesterday’s experience, and we had a glorious smooth ride across the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge!

San Francisco Bay glistened in the bright sunlight and the city looked majestic. Our bus drove around the loop near Sausalito and returned to the Presidio with a full view of the Pacific Ocean to our right.

Today we planned to use the bus as transportation to Golden Gate Park and we got off at the California Academy of Sciences. We were very pleasantly surprised by the wonderful exhibits.

We began with the enclosed Rain Forest exhibit and walked the circular path from the ground floor up to the high canopy where butterflies fluttered around freely. 

Afterwards, we followed signs to the aquarium and were totally captivated by the incredible displays of aquatic life from all over the world. 

The Earthquake exhibit caught our attention. After a while, we enjoyed a tasty lunch outdoors on the terrace of the cafeteria at the Academy of Sciences. Then we browsed the gift shop before we walked across the Golden Gate Park to the Japanese Tea Garden.

We strolled along the paths of the manicured garden, admired beautiful plants, and took photos in the afternoon light. Our destination was the Tea House to sample varieties of green tea. The Girls ordered Sencha and I had Jasmine Tea. We also shared a sample of Kuzumochi – sweet rice cakes. 

It was getting late so we caught the tour bus again and rode through the city for the last time on this trip. 

Near the Union Square business district, we left the bus and walked to Market Street to get the F Tram back to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was the long way around, but it was fun to see San Francisco one last time. 

We ended the day with a delicious seafood dinner at Scoma’s for their garlic infused Cioppino and did some final souvenir shopping. We enjoyed a wonderful week with The Girls visiting one of our favorite cities. We’re looking forward to many more great adventures in the future.  

Sunday – July 19, 2015

We enjoyed another wonderful healthy breakfast at the Hollywood Cafe and then boarded an empty Grey Line tour bus right across the street. We had great seats upstairs and upfront on the double-decker bus. San Francisco was having a ‘heat wave’ which meant bright sun, low humidity, 80 degrees, and a slight cool breeze over the water. Ideal weather to me!

We started our bus tour of San Francisco and passed Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Crissy Field, the Palace of Fine Arts, Pixar Studios, and entered the Presidio. It was Sunday and the northbound traffic was very heavy. We were on our way across the Golden Gate Bridge when we entered a tunnel and the bus stalled to a slow stop.  The driver pulled onto the shoulder and the tour guide announced that another bus would pick us up in fifteen minutes. 

Thankfully, we were in the shade of the tunnel and a new bus arrived in a short amount of time. We were able to get upper level seats but the traffic across the bridge was very heavy so the bus turned around and we did not go across the bridge. We were disappointed, but we enjoyed the rest of the three-hour tour of beautiful San Francisco. 

                                                                                      San Francisco City Hall

                                                                                         Chinatown Gate

                                                                                     Trans-Am Building

Later in the afternoon, we got off the tour bus at Pier 41. We stopped off at Boudin Bakery for cold drinks and looked in at their bakery and shop. They bake 20,000 loaves of sourdough bread daily for most of the restaurants in the city.  We continued back to the Argonaut Hotel to rest and refresh.  

As the afternoon fog began to roll in from the Pacific Ocean beyond Golden Gate Bridge, we walked to Ghirardelli Square.  We found three chocolate shops and several other stores selling a variety of interesting items.

We shopped for a while and then had dinner at McCormick & Kuleto’s overlooking the bay. We saw a beautiful colorful sunset by the end of our delicious seafood supper. 

The Girls wanted to take photographs, so we hurried out to the lovely beach. Many people had gathered to watch the incredible kaleidoscope sunset beyond the bridge. Perhaps that’s why it’s called the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Of course, we had to return to the square to sample the famous Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream sundaes for dessert! It exceeded all our expectations. :-) 

Saturday – July 18, 2015

We had a bit of a late start today because I negotiated with a guy on the street (literally) who sold tickets to Alcatraz. It’s a long story! On-line tickets were sold out until August 8th, but I asked the hotel concierge anyway. She sent me around the corner to the Hop-on Hop-off bus company who bought blocks of tickets to the prison and sold them with bus rides. The young man told me he was ‘sold out’ and sent me two blocks away to “the orange awning.” “Ask for Fahit. Tell him Drew sent you.” Fahit only accepted ‘cash’ and had “a few tickets left for today.” At least we were able to visit Alcatraz! 

Two blocks from the Argonaut Hotel was the Hollywood Cafe. They only serve breakfast and lunch and the long line waiting outside to get in was a testament to the quality of the food. We had the best ‘brunch’ of the entire trip!

Yummmmmy…….

I noticed on a map that the foot of Lombard Street was just three blocks away, so we climbed up the hill to the famous “crookedest street in San Francisco” to watch the cars negotiate eight switchback turns down the steep hill.

The Girls walked up Lombard Street while I waited below and watched four police officers direct traffic and pedestrians. Then we walked back down to Pier 33 to wait in line to board the ferry to Alcatraz.

It was a glorious ride across San Francisco Bay under a cloudless blue sky to the infamous island.

The audio tour was excellent because it explained the history, people, and events of the prison. Most of the narration was by former prisoners and guards. After several hours, we rode the ferry to the mainland and walked back to the hotel. After a brief rest, we went to Cioppino’s for a seafood dinner. We revisited the Musee Mechanique and had Three Twins ice-cream for dessert. It was another fun day!

Friday – July 17, 2015

We had a tasty breakfast at Joanie’s Happy Days Diner then took the cable car to the Cable Car Museum. This is more of an operation and repair facility than a museum and it’s great fun to see the cables, which pull the cars up and down the streets, churn quickly around huge wheels.

Afterwards, we climbed up and down several steep hills to San Francisco’s Chinatown. The streets reminded me of La Paz, Bolivia but at sea level.

Our destination was lunch at R&G Lounge on Kearny Street which several websites rated as the best Chinese food in San Francisco.

Oxtail Stew with Rice and Greens

After lunch, we strolled across Portsmouth Square Park where groups of elderly people played cards and other Chinese games. On a bench near the pavilion, a quartet of musicians played traditional instruments while a woman sang in Chinese.

Our destination was the landmark Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory located in Ross Alley. It opened in 1962 and welcomes visitors to observe workers making the famous sweets. There are only three employees who make 20,000 cookies daily.  They charge .50 cents for taking photographs. The long line at the door limited our time inside the factory.

Then we took a bus to the Marrakech Magic Theater on O’Farrell Street to see magician Peter Morrison’s 6:30 show. His slight-of-hand and magic tricks were very entertaining. The theater is in the basement of a Moroccan restaurant and adds to the mystical ambiance of the show. Peter Morrison is ‘warming up’ the audience in the photo below:

On the way back to Fisherman’s Wharf, we visited the H&M store on Powell Street to comparison shop and we stopped off at Union Square. The palm trees were fuller and bigger than I remembered.

We waited in line for a cable car and finally hopped on to ride one back to our hotel. It was exhilarating speeding up and down the hills as the sun set and the lights of San Francisco twinkled.

Back at the Argonaut Hotel, everyone was hungry so we had late night take-out from In-and-Out Burger and ate in the room. It was a fun day!